• Governments and Institutions abuse memory and monuments for political gain instead of supporting justice. This artificially increases the costs of memorial construction which denies access to our right to memory.
• The Dispersed Memorial project supports access the right to memory to victims of human rights violations by developing a low-cost, modular and self-constructing kit and a collaborative testimonial platform.
• The Dispersed Memorial has 3 phases: 1-Prototype, 2-Beta Testing, and 3-Launch. We completed Phase 1 with #APlaceToSayGoodbye in autumn 2020 and are currently searching for collaborators and sponsors to develop Phase 2 in spring 2022.
WE BUILT 5 MEMORIALS IN 3 COUNTRIES DURING PHASE 1!
LEARN ABOUT THE DISPERSED MEMORIAL IN 4 MINUTES
PHASE 1 PROCESS
1 - The participant receives the Dispersed Memorial Kit. Participants do not need to pay for production and courier costs for the kit.
2 - Each Dispersed Memorial Kit contains cardboard pieces, a plaque with a QR code, instructions, and concrete pigment.
3 - Assembly of the Dispersed Memorial takes from 5 to 10 minutes, requires no special tools, and can be done by 2 adults.
3 - Assembly of the Dispersed Memorial takes from 5 to 10 minutes, requires no special tools, and can be done by 2 adults.
4 - Participants contribute by providing materials and tools on-site to mix and pour concrete in the completed Dispersed Memorial mold.
5 - Concrete is mixed with a special pigment to give character and presence to the Dispersed Memorial.
6 - The concrete mix is carefully poured into the mold, filling it to the brim, and finally the QR plaque is placed.
6 - The concrete mix is carefully poured into the mold, filling it to the brim, and finally the QR plaque is placed.
6 - The concrete mix is carefully poured into the mold, filling it to the brim, and finally the QR plaque is placed.
7 - After 2-3 days, the cardboard mold is ready to be stripped off. Further finishing with sandpaper or brushing can be applied.
7 - After 2-3 days, the cardboard mold is ready to be stripped off. Further finishing with sandpaper or brushing can be applied.
8 - The Dispersed Memorial should be placed in a place where the public can come in contact with it.
9 - The online platform is accessed as any other QR code: simply open your smartphone’s camera, point at the QR code, and follow the link that pops up.
9 - The online platform is accessed as any other QR code: simply open your smartphone’s camera, point at the QR code, and follow the link that pops up.
10 - Follow the online platform to contribute your testimony, witness other contributors’ memories, and connect experiences across different nations and cultures.
3 PHASES OVERVIEW
Phase 1: Prototype designed and deployed a limited number of prototypes in Mexico, USA, and Germany. Each prototype is a flat-packed DIY kit sent to communities via mail, which is easily constructed at its destination to take form as the hardware element of the project: a piece of urban furniture. For Phase 1, the Dispersed Memorial partnered up with cv19memorial.org to share testimonies of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collaborated with local communities to bring together different experiences and memories. Go to cv19memorial.org to explore, search for, or contribute your testimony about living through these trying times.
Phase 2 will build upon lessons learned from the prototype phase and seek to partner with victims of human rights violations and organizations which accompany them. The objective is to deploy 100 pieces of the Dispersed Memorial in different nations to bring together memorials from a diversity of struggles against patriarchy, racism, colonialism, and capitalism.
From the collective learnings of Phase 2, the final development of the Dispersed Memorial will go through its final steps before becoming a public platform. Phase 3 will be made available to anyone who wishes to weave their memorials against the violence of patriarchy, racism, colonialism, and capitalism in conversation with memorials in other contexts.
WHAT IS THE DISPERSED MEMORIAL?
The Dispersed Memorial is inspired by the Stolpersteine project and protest memory, and follows key concepts from the transcultural turn in memory studies, particularly Michael Rothberg’s multidirectional memory. This project seeks to counter the challenges of victim attention by proposing a low-cost, modular and self-constructing memorial assisted by mixed reality technologies which bridges the gaps between attended to and neglected victims.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Governments artificially hike the political and economic costs of memorial construction, and thus deny victims of human rights violation–and the organizations which accompany them–access to their right to memory. They create a perception of limited resources for memorialization and select which victims of human rights violations are granted access to such rights. By dividing victims those attended vs neglected, governments reappropriate both power and memory, which undermines the agency of protest and memorials.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Dispersed Memorial completed its first phase in autumn 2020, which deployed prototypes in Mexico, the United States, and Germany. Each prototype is a flat-packed DIY kit sent to communities via mail, which is easily constructed at its destination to become the hardware of the project: a piece of urban furniture. The software component is accessed through an embedded QR code which gives access to a developing platform where testimony may be contributed. Participants collectively build a database where connections and collaboration—not competition—is facilitated across diverse communities and cultures.
TEAM
Sergio Beltrán-García - Architecture, Activism & Research
Rodrigo da Silva - Industrial & Product Design
THE DISPERSED MEMORIAL IS SUPPORTED BY
